Rostock–Laage Airport
Rostock Airport, German: Flughafen Rostock-Laage (IATA: RLG, ICAO: ETNL), is the airport of Rostock, the largest city in the German state Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and is named after Laage, a town in the Rostock district. It features flights to major cities throughout Germany as well as some leisure routes. In addition to civil activity, Jagdgeschwader 73 of the German Air Force is stationed on the military side of the airport.
Rostock Airport Flughafen Rostock–Laage | |||||||||||
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Summary | |||||||||||
Airport type | Public/Military | ||||||||||
Operator | Flughafen Rostock Laage-Güstrow GmbH | ||||||||||
Serves | Rostock, Germany | ||||||||||
Elevation AMSL | 42 m / 138 ft | ||||||||||
Coordinates | 53°55′06″N 12°16′42″E | ||||||||||
Website | www | ||||||||||
Map | |||||||||||
RLG Location of Airport in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern | |||||||||||
Runways | |||||||||||
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History
Construction of the airport began in 1979 as a National People's Army facility. It became operational in 1984 with the Fighter Wing JBG 77 and the Navy Fighter Wing 28. It was deactivated by the Bundeswehr in 1990 and was reactivated in 1993 when Jagdgeschwader 73 was posted there. In the same year the Rostock-Laage-Güstrow GmbH begins civilian operations on a 60 hectare section of the airport.
The airport is expected to post losses of €2.8 million for 2013 while the passenger numbers decreased by 12 percent in the same year. As the government of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is not willing to give additional financial aid, the airport operator may face bankruptcy in the near future.[1] In October 2014, Rainer Schwarz, a former general manager of Berlin Brandenburg Airport (which has not yet become operational), was appointed to the same position at Rostock–Laage Airport.[2] After the British regional airline Flybmi, which operated flights to Munich and Stuttgart ceased the operation and declared bankruptcy, Lufthansa took over the route from Rostock to Munich with a twice daily rotation (except from Wednesday and Saturday) with Bombardier CRJ900 aircraft.
In 2019, the airport suffered a sharp downfall in passenger numbers with a decrease by more than half to just 148,000.[3] This was mainly caused by the shutdown of Germania which operated several leisure routes from Rostock.
Facilities
The airport consists of one modern passenger terminal building containing a large check-in hall as well as some shops and restaurants. The building is equipped with two jet bridges and apron positions. Rostock–Laage Airport usually sees traffic by mid-sized aircraft such as the Airbus A320 but is equipped to handle wide-body aircraft up to the Boeing 747-400.[4] It also has several stands for smaller general aviation planes.
Airlines and destinations
The following airlines operate scheduled and charter flights at Rostock Airport:[5]
Airlines | Destinations |
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Corendon Airlines | Hurghada Seasonal: Antalya, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Heraklion |
Lufthansa | Munich (suspended)[6] |
Luxair | Seasonal: Luxembourg (begins 19 June 2021)[7] |
Additionally, the airport is frequently used for non-public cruiseship charter flights to and from Southern Europe to carry passengers travelling to and from the nearby cruise port of Warnemünde.[8] The nearest major international airports are Berlin 190 kilometres (120 mi) to the south and Hamburg Airport 200 kilometres (120 mi) to the west.
Statistics
Passengers | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
2010 | 219.489 | |||
2011 | 223,516 | |||
2012 | 203,990 | |||
2013 | 177,464 | |||
2014 | 169,946 | |||
2015 | 190,869 | |||
2016 | 250,199 | |||
2017 | 290,654[9] | |||
2018 | 298,000[3] | |||
2019 | 148,000[3] | |||
Source: Rostock Airport[10] |
Ground transportation
For all scheduled and most charter flights, a direct bus connection to Rostock Hauptbahnhof (25 km distance) is provided by the regional public transport company (Rebus). A special fare ("Flughafenticket") is introduced, allowing passengers to use suburban trains and street cars within the City of Rostock for one connecting trip. The same applies for one additional trip on regional busses from Rostock within the integrated fare region of Rostock.
The motorways A19 (Rostock–Berlin) and A20 (Lübeck–Szczecin) are nearby. There are 4 parking areas at the airport with more than 1,000[11] parking spots in total.
Several international as well as local car rental agencies are located at the airport.[12]
References
- "Rostock-Laage vor dem Aus?". www.austrianaviation.net.
- "Regionalflughafen: Ex-Berliner Flughafenchef wird Geschäftsführer in Rostock-Laage" – via www.faz.net.
- ndr.de (German) 11 January 2020
- aerotelegraph.com - Boeing 747: A little invasion at Rostock Airport (German) 27 January 2016
- rostock-airport.de - Rostock Airport flight schedule retrieved 30 August 2020
- airliners.de - "Lufthansa suspends Munich - Rostock" (German) 4 November 2020
- airliners.de (German) 22 January 2021
- "Gute Neun-Monats-Bilanz des Flughafens Rostock-Laage". aero.de. October 5, 2015.
- airliners.de - "Record year for Rostock" (German) 8 January 2017
- http://www.rostock-airport.de/unternehmen.html?file=files/flughafen/downloads/verkehrsdaten-flughafen-rostock-laage.pdf
- "Rostock Airport - parking at the airport". Rostock Airport (EN).
- "Booking hire cars at Rostock Airport". Rostock Airport (EN).
External links
Media related to Rostock-Laage Airport at Wikimedia Commons
- Official website
- Current weather for ETNL at NOAA/NWS
- Accident history for RLG at Aviation Safety Network